Cobb kiwi survey confirms bird’s presence
Kiwi listener Willie Cook from Hope waiting for nightfall to come at Tent Camp up the Cobb last weekend. Photo: Supplied.
Twenty-six dedicated kiwi watchers (or rather listeners) spent last Saturday night strategically placed around the Cobb Valley to record the presence and assess numbers of the great spotted kiwi now known to be back in the area.
The group, comprised mostly of Friends of the Cobb, also included a few interested observers from over the hill, including an ornithologist and two Friends of Flora team members, now assessing the results to get an idea of exact kiwi numbers.
Listeners stationed themselves in the vicinity of the information kiosk at the Cobb Road summit, Trilobite Hut, Thorns Creek, Chaffeys Hut, Tent Camp, Cobb Hut and Lake Cobb, right up to Fenella Hut and beyond. Local bird enthusiast Chris Petyt said several members of the group definitely heard kiwi calls. In the male this is a shrill whistle (kee-wee), while in the female it more of a hoarse cry. The Maori name, roa, for this species of kiwi (Apteryx haasti) is thought to be more onomatopoeically correct.
“Ideally we should have had people stationed every kilometre up the valley, in high positions and low, but we did get a good coverage with the listening spots we did manage, so feel fairly confident we heard everything going on. It was a beautiful still night up there, so there was no problem with sound not carrying. Some didn’t hear any kiwi, while around six others definitely did,” says Chris.
Tim and Jane Eckert heard calls from their spot up Myttons Creek, a place kiwi are known to now frequent, while Patsy Garrett heard both male and female from her tussocky position near Round Lake.
Under standard DOC kiwi-counting protocols, the survey started exactly 45 minutes after official sunset and went on for two hours, which meant last Saturday the exercise spanned from 9.21pm to 11.21pm.
Observers also recorded many other birdcalls during that time, including weka, morepork and kaka. Says Chris: “I’d estimate from correlating all the kiwi calls that we heard from around half a dozen birds. But it’s a hard one to judge because it’s possible that if there isn’t many kiwi, they just don’t call as much. There could be more out there. The experts can come up with some numbers.”
Kahurangi is considered one of the remaining strongholds of the great spotted kiwi, with the highest numbers along the western edge, particularly the tussock grasslands of Gouland, MacKay and Gunner Downs. Credit for kiwi moving back into the Cobb Valley can be put down to the work of Friends of the Cobb, who now maintain and check some 460 stoat traps in the area, around 300 in the valley itself. Recent reports of kiwi spotted around the Cobb Community Cottages near the lake were not repeated in the survey last week.
Chris says you used to have to tramp into Lonely Lake to hear a kiwi. “Now we have them back in the valley, it’s fantastic. Whoever would have thought?”
Gerard Hindmarsh
